Speak Up

Time to speak up and protect wildlife

Visit HowlingForWolves.com website.    There you will find information to oppose HF 2171 and SF 1943.    Please act now.   The bill is set to be voted on by the entire legislature with the next few days.  

The following taken directly from HowlingForWolves.com

Tell Governor Dayton to stop the hunt

If our representatives don't hear from you, they will assume that you approve of hunting and trapping MN's wolves. Given the seriousness and immediacy of this issue, we encourage everyone to voice their opposition to the Minnesota wolf hunting and trapping season to Governor Dayton and their state representatives.

The wolf hunting bill passed committees in both the MN state house and the state senate committees: HF 2171 and SF 1943 and is contained in the omnibus game and fishing bill. The omnibus bill is set to be voted on by the entire legislature within the next few days and possibly by April 8, 2012.  If the Omnibus Game and Fish Bill passes containing the wolf hunt, then the Governor will have to decide between vetoing the entire bill or not.  It is important that we contact people now, so that negotiations can be done to avoid this show down. The hunting bill can be removed from the omnibus Game and Fishing bill.  Fill out our quick contact form to the right with your name, email address and phone number, and we'll send an email to Governor Dayton that will come from your email address.   If you prefer to download our letter so that you can print it out and mail it yourself, please do so by clicking here (PDF).

If you want to contact Governor Dayton's office directly, use the information below:

Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
mark.dayton@state.mn.us

Telephone: 651-201-3400
Toll-Free: 800-657-3717
Minnesota Relay: 800-627-3529
Fax: 651-797-1850

Thank you for speaking up and howling for wolves.


Dear Governor Dayton,

Please stop the Minnesota wolf hunting and trapping bills this legislative session, and reaffirm the Minnesota Wolf Management Plan of 2000. For the past 40 years, Minnesota has protected its wolf population from the fate of near extinction, and now we are on the precipice of wasting all of that work and care.

The original MN Wolf Management plan set forth a five-year waiting period after MN wolves were removed from the Endangered Species List (ESL) before any trapping and hunting be proposed. This plan called for an up-to-date and accurate population survey, scientific data collection and full public comment before any hunt be considered. Even though we do not know the current condition and numbers of our wolves, a hunting and trapping bill is on the verge of becoming  law when they were just delisted in January 2012.

In spite of its delisting , the gray wolf population can be very volatile, as was recently discovered in Yellowstone.  Wolves have very high rates of starvation and at least half of newborn wolf pups die before age six months  and over one-third of adult wolves die of starvation each year. Wolves also control their own numbers naturally. In spite of what some of our state legislators believe, our state's wolves do not need to be culled. In Northern MN, where 165,000 cattle graze, there were 91 verified kills by wolves last year. Our state must focus its money and time to assist farmers with livestock predation by wolves and a hunt has never been to stop predation by wolves on livestock (unless you wipe them out).

Trapping will result in selling wild wolf fur and this will likely increase the illegal poaching already occurring.  Thus, even more wolves will be killed outside of the defined hunt. The traps are leg-hold traps which cause excessive suffering to the trapped wolf (and other animals caught) and to members of its small pack.

Though the number of wolves in 2007-2008, was estimated nearly the same as in 2003, the average pack size decreased. This may be an early sign that wolves are on the same downward trend as moose. The last survey of MN wolves occurred when we had double the number of moose we have now.

You may wonder why all of the fuss to keep wolves.  Wolves work to maintain healthy forests and decrease excessive grazing of young trees along rivers and streams. Since wolves improve vegetation; fish and birds benefit.  Wolves control deer Chronic Wasting Disease and even coyotes.  A healthy wilderness depends on a healthy wolf population.

I believe, as do most Minnesotans, that our state's natural resources are one of the key cornerstones of our state's identity. To suddenly endanger this valuable resource without proper due diligence would be to shrug off the responsibility that was given to us through the wolf's delisting. We and the DNR have never been here before.  Never has a MN animal been removed from the ESL and immediately hunted. Minnesotans are proud of their wolves. Our original wolf population was not eradicated as in the other lower 48 states.  Let's be a great example to the rest of the country and show that our wolves will never go back on the Endangered Species List and that we can have them as our natural resource and as our wilderness ally. I insist that you stop the MN wolf hunting and trapping seasons bill and keep the original Wolf Management Plan of 2000 intact with the five year wait for a public take proposal..

Sincerely,